


STRQtober

by OnyxMidnight



Series: STRQtober [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: 50 word stories, Cannon-compliant deaths, Found Family, Little bit of blood, Multi, Team as Family, inktober prompts, little bit of liquor, traumatized characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:09:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22469920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnyxMidnight/pseuds/OnyxMidnight
Summary: The writer version of inktober 2019, featuring STRQ, the coolest team to graduate Beacon. All 50 word stories.
Relationships: Raven Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long, Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long
Series: STRQtober [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950442
Comments: 10
Kudos: 32





	1. Ring

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to my tumblr, drunkscythmaster

“You’re really asking _me_?” Qrow wondered, wanting to make sure.

Tai raised a brow. “I just did, didn’t I?”

There were reasons Qrow probably wasn’t the one to ask, but reminding Tai of Raven seemed cruel.

“Summer’s gonna love it,” he said, looking down at the ring in the box.


	2. Mindless

“There’s no way its gonna work,” Ruby said.  
“He never checks,” Yang replied, putting the vinegar away and screwing the lid back on Qrow’s flask.   
Later, to their shock, Qrow took a long drink and showed no reaction.  
“Just how bad is the stuff he drinks?” Ruby wondered, wide-eyed.


	3. Bait

Tai sighed as he came home to Summer chasing a laughing Qrow while Ruby and Yang quickly grabbed all the cookies off the counter, freezing when they saw him.  
“This was your uncle’s plan, wasn’t it?”  
“He’s the distraction,” Yang replied. “We just have to share the spoils with him.”


	4. Freeze

Tai woke up feeling good. He was safe at home with his team and nothing could get them here. He carefully looked down at the woman sleeping in his arms. Raven never looked this peaceful awake.   
He almost wished he could stop time, freeze this moment and save it forever.


	5. Build

Raven stepped out of her tent and looked around. These were her people. This was the tribe that had raised her and her brother. She had made it strong again and she became the leader.  
And so long as she believed the lies she had built, this was her home.


	6. Husky

“What the hell is that?” A stumpy fuzzball was racing around the living room.  
“That’s a dog, Uncle Qrow,” Ruby replied, following it.  
“Is it a husky?” He knew nothing about dog breeds.  
Yang gave him A Look. “No, its a corgi.”  
He just hoped it didn’t like eating birds.


	7. Enchanted

The first time it happened, Raven and Qrow learned what it felt like to be truly free. Flying over Vale, Qrow diving at an alarmed Tai, Raven dropping shiny things for Summer to find. It was amazing, magical.  
They just didn’t quite realize how dearly they would pay for it.


	8. Frail

He’d never thought of her as weak. She was a force of nature.   
But now there was something fragile about her. Something inside of her was broken, barely held together by sheer determination and denial.   
Looking at her now, Tai wondered what would happen when it finally fell to pieces.


	9. Swing

“If you fall I’m going to laugh at you,” Qrow said while Raven and Summer shook their heads.  
“Tree swings are awesome,” Tai argued as he balanced on the branch while tying a knot.  
Years later, playing with Ruby and Yang in the yard, Summer admitted that he was right.


	10. Pattern

It started small, a drink to calm his nerves before a raid. Then before a mission. Then after a mission. After nightmares.  
He wasn’t sure when he started to drink to forget.  
He tried to stop. He wanted to stop. But something always happened.  
He didn’t know how to stop.


	11. Snow (A)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two for one today! I couldn't resist writing more than one short story for this prompt.

Raven screamed a warning, struggling to move.  
But she wasn’t fast enough. She could never save her.  
In her nightmares, it would look like rose petals scattered over the snow. Bright red rose petals, melting the snow, spreading across that cloak. So many of them.  
She could never save Summer.


	12. Snow (B)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two for one today! I couldn't resist writing more than one short story for this prompt.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Raven hissed, struggling.  
“Easily, dear sister,” he replied, tossing her into the snow bank. Tai cheered as he stripped to escape the snow Raven had put down his back.  
“I will avenge you!” Summer cried, nailing Qrow in the face with a snowball.  
The battle had begun.


	13. Dragon

Ever since she was a little girl, Raven had nightmares. Ever since her parents died, since those first bonds broke, she couldn’t sleep.  
Until one night, she fell asleep in Tai’s arms. In his arms, she felt safe, protected by her dragon. There she found a peace she’d never known.


	14. Ash

It wasn’t often that a student died. At the funeral, Summer, empathic as she was, cried. Tai watched with uncharacteristic silence. For Qrow and Raven… it was a common sight.  
Still, they couldn’t help but wonder who of their team would be the first, and who would be left mourning.


	15. Overgrown

“I’m telling you, I’m not that short!” Summer insisted for the hundredth time.  
“I mean, if you were a rose bush you’d be considered overgrown,” was Tai’s helpful suggestion as he read a gardening book.  
“So what we can take from that is Roses are meant to be tiny.”  
“QROW!”


	16. Legend

“Ever wonder if we’ll be legends someday?” Summer asked, staring at the stars.   
Raven considered the question. “Not really. I just want to be in control of my own life. Do you want to be a legend?”  
The silver-eyed huntress shrugged. “I don’t know if I have a choice.”


	17. Wild

“Are you sure that’s not one of them?” Tai eyed the black birds suspiciously.  
Summer sighed. “Tai, you’re acting paranoid.”  
“They attack me whenever they can!”  
“You make it amusing for them.”  
“How?!”  
Summer sighed and shook her head, while Raven and Qrow watched from the branch, enjoying Tai’s suffering.


	18. Ornament

“Just how much did Qrow drink last night?” Summer wondered, looking out the window. Qrow had passed out on the lawn.  
“No idea,” Tai replied, sipping his coffee.  
“Shouldn’t we go out an get him?”  
“Not as long as the birds are more interested in him than my sunflowers.”  
“Tai!”


	19. Misfit

Qrow had always felt out of place.  
Most often it seemed to be because of his semblance. Except for Raven, everyone hated or feared him. He didn’t want that.   
He thought Beacon would be the same. That once Summer and Tai knew… they’d reject him too.  
But they never did.


	20. Sling

Tai hummed tunelessly as he headed home from the airport, Qrow asleep as a bird in a sling on Tai’s back. The last mission had taken a toll on his teammate, for all Qrow refused to let it show. So Tai would let him have what peace he could get.


	21. Tread

Sometimes he was treading water, sometimes he was drowning. It had been ages since he’d stood on firm land. Not since Summer died. It was always a struggle, but for the girls and Qrow, he tried.  
Then Raven came back.  
And in the storm that followed, he found land again.


	22. Treasure

“Oh come on, its just a picture, it won’t kill you,” Summer had insisted. A team picture, to commemorate the fact that STRQ was finally starting to work like a team. Something they could all hold on to, a tangible, happy memory.  
Not one of them ever threw it away.


	23. Ghost

Tai was haunted.  
He’d lost both Raven and Summer, and he didn’t know what happened to either. There were the missions undertaken for some ‘greater good’ he didn’t understand that haunted his nightmares. His fears for his daughters, already in too deep, for Qrow.   
He couldn’t escape any of them.


	24. Ancient

“If you could have any of the relics, which would you chose?” Summer wondered, looking at her team.  
“Knowledge,” Raven answered easily.  
“Creation.” Qrow destroyed enough with his semblance.  
Tai considered. “Destruction. Because things can’t change if they stay the same.”  
Raven looked over. “What about you?”  
“Choice,” she replied.


	25. Dizzy

“Stop!” Raven ordered, her smile ruining her stern tone.  
Tai stopped twirling them around, still grinning like a fool.  
“I love you too, Raven,” he murmured, pulling her close and kissing her. It made her head spin in a way that twirling hadn’t. And she didn’t want it to stop.


	26. Tasty

Raven and Qrow observed the baked goods, waiting for them to cool. They’d never had such luxuries in the camp, and during raids, cookies weren’t exactly on the list of goods they needed.  
“They should be cool enough now,” Summer finally said, handing them one each.  
They tasted like heaven.


	27. Dark

Qrow fought to keep from panicking. He didn’t know where he was, just that it was a tiny space with no light at all. He didn’t know how long he’d been there when light finally blinded him.  
“You’re okay, we’ve got you,” Raven said, her voice shaking. “We got you.”


	28. Cold

She wanted to be cold. She _needed_ to be cold. That was the only way she could survive. At least, according to her. But Tai knew differently. There was a fire in her, one that burned wild and free. He just wished she could see in herself what he saw.


	29. Ride

“Lets go on the ferris wheel!” Summer said, dragging her team through the fair.   
“There’s no defensible positions up there,” Raven pointed out.  
“Don’t want to be a sitting duck?” Tai wondered.  
Raven and Qrow both turned and if looks could kill, he’d have been struck dead.  
Summer just sighed.


	30. Injured

“Raven, stop!” Summer commanded, following her down the hall. “You’re not with the bandits anymore. You don’t have to hide your injuries. We won’t see you as weak.”  
Raven looked away. It was hard to get used to that.  
“Please, let me help you.” Summer was always so sincere.  
“Okay.”


	31. Catch

Funny how fast things could happen. One minute Qrow was flying, the next he was in blinding pain as he fell through the sky.  
Suddenly he fell through a vortex and into Tai’s hands. Raven quickly examined him as Summer got the first aid kit.   
His team always caught him.


	32. Ripe

“Qrow, why are there eighteen watermelons here?” Tai asked, even though he knew better.  
“I’m helping Yang with her math homework,” Qrow replied as he dug out his explosive dust rounds. “We’re doing subtraction, and watermelons are in season. The one marinating in the fridge is mine.”  
Tai just sighed.


End file.
